Unschooling: School's Out In a time when parents are anxting about bullies, standardised testing and whether to go private

or stick to the public system, some Australian families are foregoing school and schoolwork altogether. Not homeschooling but 'unschooling'; and as Claire Gregory discovers, their numbers seem to be on the rise. We're all familiar with the idea of homeschooling. Cue images of religious conservatives or Nimbin-style hippies here. For religious or philosophical or practical reasons, homeschoolers usually reject school but not schooling itself. In Australia homeschooling is legal, and considered a legitimate, if unusual choice. Look within Australia's homeschooling community however and you'll come across a growing subgroup. These families are following a philosophy of 'unschooling' - or 'natural learning' as it's often referred to in Australia - and they're rejecting not just school but text books, curriculums and even teaching itself. Unschooling starts by taking the child out of school and then takes it a step further by taking the schooling out of learning. What is left is a philosophy of 'real world' learning. Of allowing children the freedom to follow their own learning path, using whatever methods appeal to them. A typical day for an unschooling teen might include lying in bed til midday reading book two in the Twilight series, then watching Twilight the movie, followed by chatting on forums about Twilight, later researching the mythology of vampires online, and finally finishing their day by regaling the family at dinner time with a blow by blow account of, you guessed it, Twilight. An unschooling parent, instead of trying to guide their child away from this popular culture behemoth, and towards more scholarly works, will instead delight in the multitude of skills demonstrated in their Twilight obsessive's passion. Literacy: tick. Film theory: tick. Critical thinking: tick! Research skills: tick! You get the idea. In the United States an estimated 100,000 children are living the unschooling lifestyle. Numbers in Australia are much harder to pinpoint. Some suggest upwards of 30,000 children are home schooled in Australia. How many of those are unschooling is harder to say, however based on the activity in blogs, forums and websites we can assume a healthy percentage of this number is unschooling at least to some degree. Many unschoolers come from an attachment parenting background. Hallmarks of this style of parenting include such things as natural birth, home birth, extended breastfeeding, baby wearing, rejection of controlled-crying and utilising gentle discipline. For many parents who have adopted this style of parenting, unschooling is a logical next step. Convinced that their children will not be allowed the freedom they need to develop naturally in the school system, they opt to provide the ideal learning environment in their own home. Buoyed by having seen the amazing and natural development of their children from newborns to toddlers to children, they presume perhaps logically, that this development should continue throughout their offspring's childhood. Why try to teach, what is learned naturally? Why stymy a child's natural love of learning by enforcing rules, constraints, time frames and deadlines? Unschooling parents like to stress that unschooling is not "doing nothing". While parents may not engage in much 'teaching', they're convinced their children are learning regardless. And they worry less about what their children learn, and more about encouraging their children's passions. The theory being that by following their passion, they will be naturally learning all the skills they'll want and/or need for life. An unschooled child may never come across algebra, Jane Austen, or quantum physics in their journey from child to adult,

however this is not seen as a negative. Unschoolers reject curriculums or 'need to know' knowledge. Many would argue that children are in fact taught 'too much' at school. And that much of what they are taught is unrelated, and disconnected from their reality. While anti-school sentiment certainly drives many unschoolers, it's safe to say that no two unschoolers have the same motivation for choosing their path. A quick perusal of unschooling forums makes this more than clear. Some cite the school system as being repressive and even harmful, with bullying, antisocial behaviour, standardised testing and excessive homework all being a cause for concern. They argue that it's not that the school system is broken and can be fixed, but rather that it's a flawed model from the start. For others it's not about criticising schools, but rather it's about choosing the most natural form of education. Unschoolers argue that while children in schools learn about the world from textbooks, unschooled children learn about the world from being in the world. It's hardly surprising that for many unschooling parents there are demons to wrestle with on the journey. Unlike school which provides a steady stream of report cards and gold stars to reassure (or dishearten), unschoolers have no such referee. For most this is of course a positive, and in fact a motivation for unschooling. For others it can lead to moments of self doubt, of needing some external reassurance that their children are in fact learning. Unschooling families often have strong connections with other families in their area and come together regularly to provide support. In the absence of real world support however, many parents simply jump online. Forums give a real insight into the ups and downs that some unschooling parents experience. They bemoan their teens' over-reliance on video games to the exclusion of anything else. They worry that their 6 year old is watching too much TV even while they try to believe in the benefits of self-regulated screen time. Some have days where they wonder what it is they and their children are actually doing. Forums provide an opportunity for parents to share these concerns openly and honestly in a supportive zone. They complain that if they dare to bring any of this up with non-unschoolers they are met with the standard reply "Maybe they should be going to school." As if school, or the lack of it, was the essential problem. Fellow forum dwellers on the other hand chime in with sympathy, support and "yeah been there, and feel your pain". Words of advice are never far behind. Not unsurprisingly unschooling attracts it's fair share of criticism and sceptics. Robin Grille, psychologist, alternative education advocate and author of Parenting for a Peaceful World, is cautious about unschooling. When asked if it's a better choice than alternative schools for example, his answer is an emphatic "It depends!" He explains, "I have seen unschooling go terribly badly, i have seen it go incredibly well. Sadly, it is sometimes used to drive a personal and religious agenda of the parents who take control of their child's destiny through social separateness." This "social separateness" is a concern not just for Grille but for many others and taps into the idea that unschooled, and home schooled children in general miss out on the vital years of socialisation that schools provide. In response most believers in natural learning contend that throwing a whole lot of children of the same age together with one adult is an unnatural way to socialise children anyway. And that children who are confident and secure in themselves will grow to be confident and social adults. Grille is a passionate supporter of alternative education and sees new models of child-centred education as being critical to developing a more peaceful and just world. "Personally, I do like school and the daily tribal environment it can offer, I like the temporary separation between child and parent, I think this helps the relationships to grow. AS LONG AS the

school environment is loving, emotionally intelligent, and committed to supporting the child's right to follow his/her heart." Many (though not all) unschoolers would say that if only such a school existed nearby they would love to send their children to it. The reality though is that few schools can claim to be such havens. Independent schools following Steiner or Montissori approaches for example are few and far between, and there are few community schools or alternative schools. Most parents have a the choice of nearby state schools, or for those with the means, the closest, most appealing private one. Unschooling then can perhaps be seen as a choice in the spectrum of alternative education. Ultimately what keeps most unschoolers out of schools, even alternative ones, is the unshakable belief that children learn best in their home. That families are meant to live and learn together and not spend most of their waking hours apart. It seems the antithesis of the busy, frenetic dual income modern family that we've become accustomed to. Parents busily holding down full-time jobs, ferrying the kids to school through peak-hour traffic, and after-school care, day-care and extra-curricular activities taking over every spare minute. Unschoolers stress the 'naturalness' of their approach and how easy life is when you go with the flow instead of sticking to regimented timetables. Anybody who's fought to get their kids out the door by 7.30am may hear the appeal in this approach. How many would give up that lifestyle to stay home and unschool, is quite another thing. The reality is that parents on the whole seem to be embracing more school - before and after school care, extra tuition, extra-curricular activities - rather than less. So suggesting to parents that less schooling will lead to greater life success seems a hard sell. Maybe unschooling is not unlike the slow food movement. Just as slow foodies have tried to challenge our addiction to fast food, unschoolers are questioning our devotion to schools. But just as MacDonalds doesn't seem to be in danger of going out of business, it's clear that mainstream schools don't have to worry that there's going to be a mass dropout anytime soon. Unschooling is hardly going to be the choice for the majority of 'working families' in Australia. However there is a small but seemingly growing group of families who are daring to take their children's education quite literally into their own hands. Whether their numbers will continue to grow remains to be seen.